Are the Aussies prepared for their new Dubai layovers?

Last week a five-year tie-up between Emirates and Qantas was officially approved and the deal was celebrated yesterday by a spectacular tandem flight of two Airbus A380s over Sydney Harbour (I’d actually hoped they’d fly in tandem from Sydney to Dubai – alas it was not to be). But more than being “just another airline deal”, the new partnership will have a big impact on long-haul travellers, creating new routes and reducing travel times.

While Emirates will gain access to Qantas’ domestic network – no doubt great news for Dubai’s Australian expats – Qantas passengers will transit through Dubai instead of Asia, cutting approximately two hours off the travel time to Europe. Australian passengers transiting Dubai will now have access to 33 European destinations with only the one stop-over.

The upshot of this for those of us in Dubai is that we’re going to start seeing a lot more Australians here. And, while there are many similarities between the two destinations – sun-drenched beaches, plenty of barbecues and large expanses of desert, for example – concerns have been voiced that the easy-going Aussies might unwittingly get themselves into trouble in the UAE.

And she’s not wrong. You’d have to have been living under a stone this week to miss the column inches that have been written on both sides of the Indian Ocean telling Aussies what to expect in Dubai, both in terms of entertainment and laws.

An Australian news website has even released a three-minute videoof do’s and don’ts for visits to Dubai. Along with all the usual advice about public displays of affection and drink-driving, I particularly like “don’t toddle off drunk and disorderly, or try to pee in the bush.”

I’m really pleased to see the media take such a proactive stance in educating travellers before they reach Dubai, but I‘d hate to think that advice such as “sharing a hotel room, or even a car, with a member of the opposite sex who is not related to you is forbidden” might put people off. It is, of course, technically true, but the presenter of the video does go on to skirt around the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of most international hotels here.

However, the most sensible advice I’ve seen for Australians stopping over in Dubai came from the Sydney Morning Herald. “Despite the scare stories, if you get arrested in Dubai, you probably deserve it,” ran the editorial. “Work to a ‘don’t be a goose’ principle, and you’ll probably be fine.” It’s quite possibly the best travel advice I’ve ever heard – and it’s just as applicable to expats!

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who moved to Dubai long before most people knew where it was. She doesn’t ride a camel to work; has never seen a gold-plated golf buggy and only rarely has pink champagne for breakfast. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay